CLUB DE LECTURE

AFA club de lecture

Alliance Française d’Austin’s Club de Lecture is a French book club for reading enthusiasts who wish to read French and participate in discussions of French literature. All discussions will be conducted in French. Club de Lecture participation is for current AFA members. If you'd like to take part in Austin's French book club, join Alliance Française d'Austin today!

Club de Lecture meetings will be held the fourth Saturday of the month from 2:00-3:30pm in the conference room at La Madeleine French Café Arboretum located on Great Hills Trail. Club de Lecture does not meet in July, August, or December.

All discussion will be conducted in French. It is therefore recommended that Club de Lecture members have at least an intermediate level of French proficiency to join book discussion. AFA members with lower levels of French are always welcome to attend and listen. Club de Lecture is reserved for current up-to-date AFA members. Members’ names must appear on the AFA member roster. Not yet a member?

Participants must supply their own books (paper or electronic). The most convenient book sources are Amazon or Schoenhof's foreign books. Other sources are available (Barnes & Noble, Austin Public Library, etc.) but selection is often very limited. Be aware that even for Amazon, delivery can take from 3 to 5 weeks.

BOOK SELECTION & MEETING DATES

AFA Club de Lecture is glad to announce the book selection for the coming 4 months. At the meeting dates, we will discuss in French about the book selected, you are welcome to attend even if you have not read the book completely!

2018 SELECTION:

- JANUARY27th 2018: Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise SaganEndearing, self-absorbed, seventeen-year-old Cécile is the very essence of untroubled amorality. Freed from the stifling constraints of boarding school, she joins her father—a handsome, still-young widower with a wandering eye—for a carefree, two-month summer vacation in a beautiful villa outside of Paris with his latest mistress, Elsa. Cécile cherishes the free-spirited moments she and her father share, while plotting her own sexual adventures with a "tall and almost beautiful" law student. But the arrival of her late mother's best friend, Anne, intrudes upon a young girl's pleasures. And when a relationship begins to develop between the adults, Cécile and her lover set in motion a plan to keep them apart...with tragic, unexpected consequences.Find this book on Amazon.

- FEBRUARY 24th 2018: La tête en fricheby Marie-Sabine RogerMargueritte is a 95-year-old woman whose greatest joy in life is a good book. The residents of her rural French village are stunned when she strikes up a conversation with a sweet man named Germain who is illiterate. As their odd friendship blossoms Margueritte shares her passion with Germain, teaching him as she reads aloud. When Margueritte's eyes begin to fail, Germain returns the favor by reading with and for her.Find this book on Amazon.

- MARCH 24th 2018: L’élégance du hérisson by Muriel BarberyThe book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Renée works.Find this book on Amazon.

- APRIL28th 2018: Voyage à Rodrigues by J.M.G. Le CléziotAlexis L'Estang becomes obsessed with finding the treasure of the legendary Unknown Corsair on the island of Mauritius.The prospector searches for buried treasure with a beautiful island girl in an effort both to restore his family’s fortunes and to reclaim his idyllic childhood; this second idyll is interrupted by World War I.Find this book on Amazon.

- MAY 26th 2018:Quatre Lettres de mon Moulin by Marcel PagnolAdapted for the cinema by Marcel Pagnol, these Letters of Mon Moulin by Alphonse Daudet are an original work. Marcel Pagnol has rewritten four tales by obviously favoring dialogue for film and television and for publication in books, he added some passages of narration.Find this book on Amazon.

- JUNE 23th:Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryMoral allegory and spiritual autobiography, The Little Prince is the most translated book in the French language. With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behaviour through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.Find this book on Amazon.

2017 SELECTION:

- JUNE 24th: La commissaire n’aime point les vers by Georges FlipoWhat does a homeless man found dead in front of the Académie Française have to do with a sonnet by Baudelaire?Find this book on AmazonGuide de Lecture

- AFA Club de Lecture will be closed during July and August -

-SEPTEMBER23rd:Au revoir là-haut by Pierre LemaitreDesperate for one last chance of promotion, an ambitious lieutenant sends two scouts over a hill and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action and sets in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of the lieutenant and the two soldiers who witness his crime.Find this book on Amazon.

- OCTOBER 28th: Les âmes grises by Philippe ClaudelOfficials in a French town turn their focus from the ongoing horrors of World War I to solving the murder of a local girl. Framed by the desire of vengeance of the judge and his contempt for the class privileges of the district attorney, the case is set against a backdrop of death across Europe and poses deep questions about justice and humanity.Find this book on Amazon.Guide de lecture

- NOVEMBER 25th: La liste de mes envies by Gregoire DelacourtJocelyne wins the EuroMillions lottery, 18 million euros to be exact, but does not tell anyone. She needs time to examine the possibilities, to make a list of what she really wants. She thinks about being happy, and what that means. Will purchasing a new television for her husband make his life better? As she deliberates, she draws up a list of desires and contemplates the true meaning of worth. Gradually, her blog takes off and she becomes famous, her shop a popular destination. Still, she tells no one of her win.Find this book on Amazon.